Many OB-GYNs breathed a sigh of relief Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that telehealth access to the abortion drug mifepristone can continue until after the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a ruling in the federal lawsuit Louisiana v. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Jenna Beckham, an OB-GYN and complex family planning subspecialist in Durham, says abortion in North Carolina remains legal for up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. But she says the legal back-and-forth over whether mifepristone will remain available via telehealth is creating chaos and confusion.
Durham OB-GYN Dr. Jenna Beckham (Photo: Screenshot)“No patient who is dealing with a miscarriage or in need of abortion care should be forced to drive hundreds of miles to pick up a medication that is not just effective, we know is exceedingly safe,” Beckham said on a Friday call with reporters.
Mifepristone is not a new medication. It was first approved by the FDA in 2000. In 2023, the FDA concluded the drug used in medication abortion was safe to be distributed via telehealth and through pharmacies.
However, in the case before the 5th Circuit, attorneys for the state of Louisiana, which has banned abortion completely, argued that allowing healthcare providers in other states to use telehealth to prescribe and ship mifepristone to women in Louisiana violates the state’s ban.
The 5th Circuit Court agreed, issuing an injunction that banned telehealth access to mifepristone across the entire country. But the high court paused the injunction late Thursday, ruling that telehealth access to the abortion drug would remain in place until the 5th Circuit can rule in Louisiana v. FDA case.
Beckham said while politicians and judges make it harder for patients to get care when and where they need it, doctors and health care clinicians know mifepristone is safe.
“Safer than Viagra, Tylenol and countless other medications that patients and people throughout the country don’t think twice about taking and certainly don’t attract the attention of politicians,” said Beckham.
More than 2,200 physicians across the United States have signed a letter this week, organized by the Committee to Protect Healthcare, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to permanently restore access to the abortion medication mifepristone via telehealth.
“Since the Supreme Court’s ruling [Thursday] is only a temporary reprieve, we want to be very clear that any future decision to restrict mifepristone access would not be grounded in science. It would not be grounded in patient safety,” said Dr. Melissa Bayne, an OB-GYN in west Michigan.
Federal appeals court moving forward on North Carolina abortion pill restrictions case
As a rural health physician, Bayne said she can’t imagine not being able to use telehealth to help patients needing her care.
“We have huge areas that are maternity care deserts right now. There are zero OB-GYNs,” said Bayne. “I am one of four OB-GYNs in an entire hour or 60-70 mile radius of where I practice. I’ve been up for 24 hours.”
Bayne said that mifepristone is the first step in a standard care regimen for both abortion and miscarriages. Medication abortion via telehealth accounts for 27% of all abortions.
“Requiring a patient to see me in person to have access to this medication does not add any safety improvements, it only creates an additional barrier to essential care,” said Bayne.
Both Bayne and Beckham said they’ve seen an uptick in patients requesting sterilization at very young ages because they are worried about not having agency over their reproductive health.
For those patients feeling especially anxious about increased restrictions on reproductive care and how the case before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will play out, Beckham uses that as an opportunity to talk about the importance of voting.
“Unfortunately, our politics are more and more interfering with our ability to provide care,” said Beckham. “[Voting] is one thing that every American can do in local and federal elections to voice our concerns and to try to keep things like this from hopefully not continuing to happen.”
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